The invention has particular utility in association with the remote control of land vehicles, and is, therefore, herein described in conjunction with such a vehicle. There is, however, no intention to limit the invention to land vehicles, and instead, it may also be applied, if desired, to the remote control of aircraft and water craft, including both surface vessels and submarines.
In the use of steerable motor vehicles, situations often arise in which it is preferable, for safety or other reasons, that the vehicle not carry a human occupant. Examples of such situations are the operation of snow plows for clearing roads in avalanche-prone areas, the transport of materials, sensing instruments or other items into areas of hazardous waste disposal, the operation of mine-detonating vehicles, and the operation of vehicles used for target practice purposes. To meet the need for unmanned vehicles, many different types of remote control systems have been proposed and used in the past for allowing a vehicle to be operated from a control station remote from the vehicle and connected with the vehicle by one or more communication links. In some of these known systems, a camera is carried by the control vehicle and a picture of the view seen by the camera is transmitted by a communication link to the remote control station and reproduced there on a display screen to give the operator some visual information on the vehicle's environment. The visual displays given to the operator, however, have been two-dimensional ones and, therefore, have not afforded the operator a good perception of depth and reality in regard to the scene encountered by the vehicle.
The object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a system for remotely controlling steerable motor vehicles and which system provides the operator at a remote station an improved, three-dimensional and realistic, view of a scene in the vicinity of the vehicle to allow the operator to precisely control the operation of the vehicle in relation to its surroundings.
A more particular object of the invention is to provide a remote control system for a steerable motor vehicle wherein the operator at the remote control station is provided with a three-dimensional view of a scene in the vicinity of the vehicle by means of a virtual reality headset worn by the operator.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and from the accompanying drawings and claims.